Diversionary Theatre’s 4th production of the 2008-’09 season is a comedy about interactions in a black family when a gay man brings home his white lover.
When Jesse returns home to Chicago for his brother’s wedding, he surprises — or, as his best friend Nina says, “ambushes” — his family by bringing along his Swedish boyfriend, Christian. Jesse’s three siblings have varying reactions to the couple: half-sister Ronnie is supportive and anxious for the family to fully accept Jesse and Christian as a couple; younger brother Tony, once he conquers his initial homophobia, is resistant to welcoming a white man into their African-American family; and deeply religious sister Evy thinks that Jesse is betraying the memory of their deceased parents by “choosing” what she considers a sinful, unnatural lifestyle. Through card games, language lessons, and literature, they all strive to live, love, and give as much as they can.
